Efe Ambrose Disciplined By Celtic On Day Of Juventus Match

The Huffington Post UK/PA

Neil Lennon revealed that defender Efe Ambrose was disciplined for being late for training this morning ahead of the 2-0 Champions League second-leg defeat by Juventus which saw Celtic exit the last-16 stage on an 5-0 on aggregate, but insists it was not the reason the defender was omitted from the starting eleven.

The Hoops boss confirmed that the Nigeria international missed the team bus from the hotel and had to catch up by taxi.

In the event, Ambrose replaced the injured Victor Wanyama for the start of the second-half when the visitors were behind to an Allesandro Matri goal, before Fabio Quagliarella notched the second in the 65th minute as the spirited Parkhead men were again punished heavily for a lack of concentration.

Lennon was in no mood to expand upon the Ambrose incident, saying: "There was disciplinary action taken against him but it wouldn't have affected the team selection tonight."

The Juventus tie has been a nightmare for Ambrose

Pressed on the issue, the Northern Irishman "Is this the best line of questioning we can do here? Are we not going to talk about the game, are we going to talk about things which aren't important?"

In Celtic's 0-3 defeat in the first leg, Ambrose gifted Alessandro Matri an early goal and lost possession seconds before Mirko Vucinic hit Juventus' third. He also spurned a presentable chance when he headed straight at Gianluigi Buffon with the scoreline at 0-1.

The Nigerian arrived in Glasgow on the day of the game after winning the African Cup of Nations with his country, and teammate Kris Commons said Ambrose "should have put in a better performance".

"Look, the manager picked him. The manager pulled him to one side and asked him if he was feeling okay. He said he was feeling brilliant," Commons said

"If he wasn't feeling okay then he should have said so. If he felt good then he should have put in a better performance."